CONN-DO ATTITUDE: St. John's coach Norm Roberts and players on the bench celebrate during the Red Storm's 73-51 win over Connecticut in the Big East Tourney yesterday. Photo: Neil Miller

In an auxiliary room off the St. John’s locker room in the Garden, Norm Roberts tucked his wallet into his back pocket, turned on his cell phone and turned his attention to the one guarantee he has — the next 24 hours of his tenure as the Red Storm coach.

Roberts knows that neither his team’s 73-51 demolition of Connecticut yesterday in a Big East Conference Tournament first-round game nor the glowing praise of Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun assures anything.

“They certainly have a bright future ahead of them,” said Calhoun. “With those juniors becoming seniors they’ll be one of the better teams I think in the Big East, certainly top five or six next year.”

And with a win over Marquette today, perhaps Roberts (81-99) will get to lead those players in Year 7. Certainly, they made a statement about their head coach, snapping a nine-game losing streak to the Huskies and giving Roberts his first win over Calhoun.

“We hear about Coach Roberts being on the hot seat, but you have no idea how much he cares about us,” junior Justin Burrell of The Bronx told The Post. “He has us out to his house three or four times each summer to swim in his pool. We are the closest team I’ve ever been on.”

Will close be enough? The 17 wins are the most in the Roberts era. There could be an NIT invitation, which would be the first postseason tournament the Red Storm didn’t have to buy its way into, as is the case with the College Basketball Invitational.

Juniors Sean Evans (19 points) and Paris Horne (13) led the way. Horne turned in the play that was vintage Roberts, the son of a retired NYC detective father and mother who’s a retired nurse.

A loose ball rolled towards half-court with 4:53 left and Horne, a junior and one of the players Roberts said would be the foundation of his program, made a head-first, full body dive that would make Michael Phelps proud.

Horne’s body bounced off the court as his hands secured the ball and he screamed for time out. Roberts, fists pumping, exploded off the bench as if he had won the Power Ball jackpot, currently at $170 million.

“My guys play hard every day,” said Roberts. “But I also think what they’re doing right now is they’re not playing not only hard but they’re playing with their hearts.”

Certainly the emotions have been roiling for this squad (17-14), which gets a rematch with fifth-seeded Marquette today in a quarterfinal round game. Marquette (20-10) beat St. John’s 63-61 in overtime on Feb. 24 on an off-balance buzzer-beater by Jimmy Butler.

Junior point guard Malik Boothe of Queens (eight points, nine assists, two turnovers), who outplayed UConn’s more highly touted Kemba Walker of The Bronx (12 points, four assists, three turnovers), broke down during Monday’s interview session, the frustration of a six-win Big East regular season having taken its toll.